Baby Mine
by Songstone
Summary: Itachi knew the plan that surrounded Sasuke's birth. It was all very crucial and it had to be followed through. But...Itachi can't help but to feel the urge to ignore the plan once the newborn was in her arms. -Warning for brain-breakage. AUish-


**Baby Mine**

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**...I am so tired.**

But I finished this! And I just had to post it really quick, since I'm proud of it. xD

Anyway, this is kind of the beginning to a story that my buddy, P. T. Famous Wolf, and I wrote together. Our collab is called "Elegy".

**Anyway, read with an open mind and enjoy!**

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"Please calm down! Just keep breathing, you'll be fine."

But Itachi knew that she would _not_ be fine. She was being ripped apart just then, torn in two, no matter how 'natural' the doctor claimed this experience was. No amount of mental or physical ninja training had prepared her for anything even _close_ to this kind of torture.

There were very few instances wherein Itachi had shed tears. When she was two years old, and she had fallen down the steps to her porch was one, and a few other times when she was young and naive, barely old enough to form complete sentences. Those times she had cried for such silly reasons.

But now, at the age of fifteen, in a hospital inside of the Tea Country, Itachi threw her head back into the stiff pillow that had been presented to her and sobbed her heart out. She wailed and cried, and begged for everything to end. Sharp pains crippled her ability to form words, and she yelped in misery instead, clawing desperately at the sheets beneath herself.

Itachi wasn't dumb; she had known that childbirth would be painful, but her educated guess as to _how_ painful wasn't even close to the actual thing.

"Sir." One of the nurses that was busily trying to soothe Itachi into a calmer state of mind spoke up, looking away from her charge for a moment to lay her eyes onto the teen's father, who stood statue-perfect near the doorway. "Are you sure that you don't want to distribute any pain medicine?"

Itachi clenched her eyes shut, tears still escaping her. She had been begging for something, anything, to ease her pain. But her father had given strict orders to her doctor to not give an epidural, and not even to give her a small amount of medication to ease her discomfort. She had been going through a seven hour long labor without any form of pain relief, and it was pure agony.

Fugaku watched on with a cool air about him, his face a mask of indifference as per usual. He gave a stiff nod in answer to the question he was asked. "Don't give her anything to dull the pain."

There was nothing that the nurses or the doctor could do. Itachi was a minor, and her father was in charge of her. _He_ gave permission for them to distribute medicine. Without his consent, they really couldn't do much for her.

Itachi didn't have to ask why her father wasn't allowing her anything for her pain. She already knew. This was punishment. Fugaku had told her months ago that in order to make sure she would never do something so irresponsible again, that she would suffer through her labor. He wanted to make sure she learned her lesson and would never risk getting pregnant ever again.

Another contraction rippled throughout the young girl's body.

Itachi tossed her head back and wanted to die.

- - -

_"Itachi Uchiha!"_

_Itachi couldn't remember ever seeing her father so mad before._

_"How could you do this? You're fourteen years old, and you went out and did something that only loose women do!"_

_His nose was inches from her face as he hollered down at her. Her back pressed against the wall, and he shoved her shoulder harder. She grinded her teeth together as she felt bone rubbing against bone from the force he was using on her arm._

_"You're _fourteen_ years old..." Fugaku stressed again. "You're _pregnant_. You've not only completely ruined your own life, but, for the love of God, you're supposed to be passing yourself off as a man!"_

_Itachi lowered her eyes to the floor in response._

_She had known the risks of sleeping with Shisui, but she had gone against her better judgment and had let him do as he pleased with her. She was closest to him. She trusted him. And now this had happened._

_But Itachi couldn't blame Shisui entirely; it was her own fault, too, for allowing him to have his way with her. But at the same time she regretted it, she didn't. It hadn't been wonderful, like she had heard her 'first time' would be, but it had been interesting. Like learning a new jutsu._

_She would be bold enough as to say she loved her second-cousin. And he loved her. He had said so. It seemed only natural that they should..._

_"You should consider yourself lucky that I don't have you abort the child."_

_Fugaku's voice, low in a snarl, made Itachi look back up at him in surprise._

_"I'm...keeping it?" She asked, her tone even and her expression masked._

_Fugaku released her after he allowed her to see a gruff nod. Itachi's shoulder throbbed in response to being freed from her father's iron grip, and she rubbed it cautiously, flinching away when her sore muscles rejected the touch._

_"You have to keep up your facade." Her father continued, still fuming. His voice had lowered a bit. "If I took you to get rid of it, then you would have to reveal yourself as a woman."_

_Ah. Yes. And being a woman was a shame._

_At least, that was what Itachi had gathered over the years. She had lived her entire life disguised as a boy and only a handful of people knew her true gender. Uchiha women didn't wield a Sharingan--_shouldn't_ wield a Sharingan. Uchiha women weren't prodigies. That was what Fugaku had taught her._

_And in an ill-fated manner, Itachi had been born a female. And to further her misfortune, she had been blessed with an activated Sharingan at a young age. Fugaku had seen this and had known _this could not be_. So he had fixed her problems._

_She grew up being referred to as 'he' and 'my son' and had been given boys' clothing to wear. But Itachi was not only gifted with the Sharingan, but she was quite bright for her age. At six, Itachi had noticed differences the anatomical between men and women, and had deduced that she _had_ to be a girl._

_This revelation was short-lived. Her father hasily explained that it was better to be a boy, and that he was making things easier for her. Like the good child Itachi was, she had continued with the charade, and as soon as she had begun to develop more around the chest in her pre-teen days, she had taken matters into her own hands._

_A simple henge technique worked well enough to hide the swell in her chest. And as a backup, wrapped bandages around her chest aided her disguise._

_But now...how was she going to hide a pregnancy?_

_"How will we explain it to everyone when I have the child?" Itachi asked, her eyes following her father's movements as he fell into an uneasy pace inside of their dining room._

_Fugaku was silent for a moment, and Itachi knew he was mulling over the same thought. Finally, though, he had come to a conclusion, since he stopped pacing and stood straight, locking eyes with Itachi. "In two months, you will leave with me somewhere far from Konoha. I will take time away from the force and we'll explain that we're going away to train and better hone your skills."_

_Itachi nodded, waiting to hear more._

_Fugaku 'hmm'd a bit. "Before this, your mother will announce that her and I are to have another child."_

_Itachi blinked, instantly knowing where this was going._

_"She will come with us when we leave. While we're gone, you'll have the child, and..." He frowned a bit, but continued. "...and we'll claim it to be mine and your mother's."_

_All was silent inside of the room as Fugaku let his words drift into nothingness. And Itachi just let the idea sink in, staying quiet._

_Finally, when Fugaku stared at her inquisitively, demanding more than he was requesting her approval, Itachi cleared her throat and dipped her head in agreement. "I understand."_

- - -

Itachi's throat was raw and sore from her screams, but she couldn't make herself stop. They came on their own, wild and piercing.

Her face was damp with both tears and sweat, and she was shaking from the magnitude of the pain she was enduring.

The doctor had been forced to slice her a bit as her delivery progressed. Itachi had gotten so dizzy from the pain she was afraid that she would pass out. Unfortunately, she remained conscious and aggravatingly _aware_ of everything.

But according to the doctor, and judging by the suddenly bustling nurses, the end was near. her labor was finally over, after what was now almost eight hours of misery.

"Just once more, please miss." The doctor said seriously. "One good push."

Itachi moaned, her chest heaving as her breathing stayed at an irregular pace. She braced her legs against the bed, unsure if she actually had the willpower to give 'one good push'.

She wanted to quit so badly. She didn't want to suffer through this anymore. But one thought struck her hard, and she knew she had to do this. She had to bring her child into the world. The child whom she had gotten to know, even if she'd never met him or her.

Itachi had remained indifferent about things that concerned her pregnancy, in front of her mother and father, at least. But she couldn't help but to melt every time she had felt a little nudge against her side as the baby shifted. And she couldn't help but to speak to the child every now and again, when it was just them, and they were completely alone. She had loved the child from the very beginning, she realized; she had never hated it for causing complications in her life. She had hated herself for a while, but never the child.

And now she was about to meet her son or daughter for the first time. That thought raced through her mind again and again, the words jumbled together and almost incoherent after another three seconds, when Itachi had readied herself and _pushed_.

The doctor must have gotten a hold of the child, now, since the next thing Itachi knew, something was leaving her, and the incredible pain was gone. She began to shake and gasp for air as a strong sense of sore muscles and dull aches racked her body, and her back finally met with the sheets again as she relaxed enough to lay back down.

And then she could _hear_ it. Her baby. Her baby was crying, and it was the single most beautiful thing that Itachi had ever heard in her life. Her eyes, which she had shut for rest, suddenly reopened, and she gazed around, disoriented for a moment before she found one of the nurses holding a small bundle. The woman turned away to clean the baby, and Itachi experienced a moment of panic.

_No, bring it here..._ Itachi tried to say the words, but her voice was lost.

However, within minutes, the nurse was walking back towards her, holding the small bundle again delicately in her arms. She gave Itachi a warm smile from beneath her face mask; Itachi could tell because small wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes in a sign of a happy expression.

"Here's your baby boy." The woman told her, gently lowering the whimpering child down into Itachi's shaky, waiting arms.

"...Boy?" Itachi croaked. She brought the baby close to her chest and gazed down at him with tired eyes as he rested in her arms. He fit there perfectly. Itachi knew then and there that he belonged to her; she had always known that biologically, she would be his mother, but now that she held him... He was _her's_. This was her son. Tears stung her eyes as they formed, and she let them cascade down her cheeks without a care.

"...Mine..." Itachi said under her breath. "My baby boy..." She smiled, loving how the words left her mouth. "My _son_."

The child in her arms rested peacefully, his face perfect and round, and pink. His nose was like Itachi's. The shape of his face was about the same, as well. And of course, he had black hair, so dark that it hinted towards the color blue if Itachi let the light hit him in just the right way. She already knew his eyes would be black, as well, but still, she couldn't wait to see them.

"A boy." Itachi heard her father's footsteps approaching her hospital bed even over the talk and bustle of the doctor and his nurses. "What was the name you chose?"

Itachi had been well prepared with names for either gender. Now that she had a boy in her arms, she smiled as she realized that he already had a name, and she spoke it eagerly, her voice scratchy and a bit broken, but proud nonetheless.

"Sasuke..." She brought up a shaking hand to touch the top of the boy's head, marveling at how soft his skin and hair were. She cried a little more as she held him close. "My son's name is Sasuke."

Fugaku regarded the name with a nod. He watched Itachi sternly as she spoke, and frowned a bit as he heard her last words. "Your brother." He said, low, so he wouldn't be heard by anyone besides Itachi.

And Itachi practically froze in horror.

Brother.

That's right...

The plan was to give Sasuke to Mikoto, and for her to pass him off as her son. Itachi was to take up the role as 'older brother'.

No. No, no, that was all wrong.

"But...--" Itachi looked up at Fugaku desperately, and she was met with a hard, determined stare. She knew she shouldn't be arguing. She knew it was better this way. But she still didn't like it.

She looked back down at her son--who was, and would always be her son, even if he would never know it. She touched his face, and let his hand curl around her finger, and her distress melted away again.

"Sasuke," She began, not worrying if her father heard her or not. She smiled again as the boy gave her index finger a very light squeeze in response to her voice. Did he recognize her voice from all those times she had spoken to him while he was inside of her?

"I'm so happy to meet you. I'm Itachi...and I'm your mom."

**..::..**

**  
I can't get this idea out of my head. D: It's so sad.**

And I'm pretty sure I might write a couple of drabble chapters after this one. But in any case, I hope you all enjoy it!


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